Evaluate the progress made in maternal and child health indicators between NFHS-5 and NFHS-6, and the challenges that remain.

Q. Evaluate the progress made in maternal and child health indicators between NFHS-5 and NFHS-6, and the challenges that remain. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

The National Family Health Survey-6 (2023-24), covering ~6.79 lakh households across 715 districts under MoHFW through IIPS Mumbai, records steady but uneven gains over NFHS-5 (2019-21) [2]. Progress is real in service delivery and immunisation, yet nutrition and data gaps temper the verdict.

Progress in maternal health - Institutional deliveries rose from 88.6% to 90.6%, and skilled birth attendance from 89.4% to 91.3%, nearing universal coverage — a dividend of JSY/JSSK and the National Health Mission [2]. - Continuum of care improved: first-trimester ANC registration up from 70.0% to 76.2%, and four-or-more ANC visits from 58.5% to 65.2%, indicating earlier and sustained contact with the system [2].

Progress in child health and nutrition - Full immunisation (12-23 months) up from 83.8% to 87.1%, with over 96% receiving at least one vaccine; rotavirus coverage leapt from 36.4% to 85.4% under Mission Indradhanush's expanded schedule [2]. - Stunting fell from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 29.3% and underweight from 35.8% to 31.8%, reflecting POSHAN Abhiyaan's convergence approach [2].

Challenges that remain - Nutrition plateau: wasting barely moved, 21% to 19% — acute undernutrition is proving resistant, and nearly a third of children remain stunted [2]. - Data discontinuity: haemoglobin testing was dropped in NFHS-6; anaemia estimates now come from an ICMR survey using venous (gold-standard) sampling, improving accuracy but breaking trend comparability with earlier rounds [1]. - Narrower indicator set: indicators were pruned by a Technical Advisory Committee under the Data Harmonisation Initiative, reducing the granularity available for policy monitoring [1]. - Persistent last-mile gaps: the residual tenth of non-institutional deliveries and un-immunised children is concentrated among the hardest-to-reach.

On balance, NFHS-6 confirms that India's maternal-child health architecture has matured, even as nutrition outcomes lag. The way forward lies in restoring comparable anaemia and nutrition tracking through the ICMR series, targeting district-level laggards, and aligning indicators with SDG-3 monitoring — so that harmonised data strengthens, rather than thins, the evidence base for social-sector governance.

(~340 words)

Sources: 1. Update on NFHS-6, PIB (Rajya Sabha reply, 04 Aug 2026) — TAC-based indicator finalisation, Data Harmonisation Initiative, anaemia estimates shifted to ICMR gold-standard survey 2. NFHS-6 Reflects India's Accelerated Progress in Maternal and Child Health, PIB (29 May 2026) — survey coverage and sample; institutional delivery, skilled birth attendance, ANC, immunisation, rotavirus, stunting, wasting and underweight figures